Today’s News

Keck's Exclusives: Is This How The Office Will Write Out Steve Carell?

Spoiler Alert! As Steve Carell prepares to shoot his final episodes of NBC's The Office before transitioning full-time to the big-screen, could it be possible that his doofus character, Michael Scott, is also destined for showbiz success?

At the Hollywood opening of Hair's three-week run at the Pantages Theatre, Office alum Melora Hardin told me her character, Jan Levinson, is about to make a return visit to Scranton's paper supply company as part of a story arc that could very well set up Michael's departure.

"I'm filming one the second week of January and have a few more after that," said Melora, expected to first appear on screen during February sweeps. "Michael finally finishes the screenplay and makes the movie he has always threatened to finish — and I'm in the movie! The title of the episode is 'Threat Midnight,' which is the title of his screenplay."

To refresh your memory, in a 2005 episode, the Dunder Mifflin staff discovered an early draft of Michael's script, which was to star himself as Agent Michael Scarn. "Obviously, there's lots of mystery in the episode. We're all playing characters in his movie and Jan's character, Jasmine, unveils a little piece of the puzzle that's important to the plot unfolding."

Asked is this could catapult Michael to Hollywood (and Steve off the show), Melora told me, "Yeah, I think so."